Remember Your Mercies, O Lord
Third Tuesday of Lent
We are already half way through this incredible journey of Lent. Through our efforts of sacrifice in fasting and almsgiving, God brings to the surface of our lives, the areas of weakness we face. But God never wants us to fall into despair. So at this point in our Lenten journey, it is important for us to recognising our weakness so that we can come to realise how much more we need God, his Love and his Mercy in our lives.
Today’s readings are a great insight into God’s Mercy. I think all of us can sometimes look at God’s Mercy as a list of things we need to check off.
- Go to confession
- Say sorry to God
- Pray
- Then happy days we are forgiven, and that’s that.
But we can easily miss the part that, God’s Mercy is entirely about relationship, both with God and with others. Literally the 2 things we were created for, the 2 most important parts of our lives.
The prayer that we hear in the book of Daniel today expresses this so clearly. Azariah in full knowledge of his weakness and sin reaches out to God in prayer. Wanting nothing except to be in God’s presence, to be with God. Our sin is what divides us from God, but it’s God’s Mercy that brings us closer to him.
Then in Matthew we hear Jesus say forgive not 7 times but 70 x 7 times. Basically meaning we should never stop forgiving. Now this sounds challenging and exhausting yes. But when we stop and look at it with eyes for relationship, it becomes not about what we are doing, the list we are checking off. But more about us continually coming closer to God, and bringing his presence into a new stronger relationship with another.
So for this journey in this Lent, I’d like to encourage you all to think about the relationships you have in your life, with friends, family, strangers. Think about how you can show mercy to those you struggle with, that fosters a closer relationship with them. Because our relationships is what we are created for, to be with each other in the presence of God.
Aaron Walsh
Sydney DOJ
Daniel 3:25, 34-43
Matthew 18: 21-35
